“The main body of the fire is looking pretty good, that main body is contained at this point,” Thibideau said. “But we did get a spot fire yesterday.”

Smoke from Tuesday's spot poured into Redding on Wednesday, shrouding the area in a haze it hasn't experienced since earlier this month. Air quality in Redding by late Wednesday afternoon was listed as moderate.

Thibideau said the windy conditions Tuesday were likely what firefighters faced the afternoon of Sept. 5, the day the Delta Fire started.

“The winds really did a number in creating that spread,” he said of Tuesday’s flare-up. “There were noted spot fires and what we call ‘group torching’ of trees and that was mostly wind-driven. ... So it was super challenging.”

“We don’t have the gusts to 15 miles per hour like we did yesterday,” Thibideau said. “We are happy for that, but we are going to be a little bit hotter and a little bit drier.”

The forecast high Wednesday in Redding is 102 degrees, the National Weather Service said.

Thursday's high will be 101 before temperatures start to plunge with highs in the mid- to upper-70s forecast over the weekend with a slight chance of showers.

The Forest Service has listed the cause of the Delta Fire as "human" but has not said how exactly it started.

The Hirz Fire, which burned more than 46,000 acres near the Delta Fire and has been contained, also was human-caused, the Forest Service said.

But Shasta-Trinity National Forest officials have also declined to reveal more about the cause of Hirz. The fire started Aug. 9.

Joe Orosz, a spokesman for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, told the Record Searchlight in early September that fire investigators need to be thorough because their findings have to stand up to scrutiny in court.

"It's a legal finding, so it takes a bit of time," Orosz said.

Messages left Wednesday afternoon for Orosz and Carol Underhill, spokeswoman for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, were not immediately returned.